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HANOVER, IN (WAVE) – A Madison, Ind., man is behind bars, accused of raping a dementia patient.
David
Garcia is charged with one count of rape, a level-three felony. Hanover
police said it happened Saturday at the Hanover Nursing Center. Garcia
was arrested Wednesday after a co-worker reported him having sex with a
74-year-old female dementia patient.
“He
had been a past employee there and had returned recently to it as a CNA
or certified nursing assistant,” said Chief Joshua Taylor, of the
Hanover Police Department. “That’s the position he was working in the
capacity of this evening.”
According
to police records, a co-worker saw a man with his pants down and a
woman on the bed, believed to be a patient, and reported it to
co-workers immediately to be investigated.
When questioned, the victim told investigators she’d had sex with a man and pointed toward her groin.
“As
of right now, with the information we have, we felt comfortable filing
that rape charge, but will continue to review this going forward, if any
additional charges will pop up during the investigation,” Jefferson
County (Ind.) Prosecutor David Sutter said.
Police
said Garcia had prior arrests but nothing like this. Taylor said it’s
so important to be careful when hiring people in charge of caring for
vulnerable populations, like dementia patients.
“You
do everything you can to ensure you have the right person for the
position there,” Taylor said. “From the get go, a lot of times with
investigations we have, there’s no indicators, nothing in the history,
nothing in past to give the red flag.”
If convicted, Garcia could face up to 16 years in prison.
Sutter
said his office is weighing the charges in the case seriously because
of the kind of crime and the position of trust Garcia was in during the
alleged rape.
“As
a community, you always want to try to take care of your most
vulnerable,” Sutter said. “We certainly feel like whether it’s infants
or folks that are for whatever reason in nursing centers, those are
people that we need to take care of and we obviously take that very
seriously. Community safety is the utmost importance for my office and
the Hanover Police Department.”
Hanover
police said the investigation is ongoing, and they’re speaking with
others at the nursing center to ensure there are no other victims but
right now, they believe this was an isolated incident.
The administrator at the Hanover Nursing Center declined to comment about the incident or about Garcia’s arrest, saying she couldn’t discuss the matter while it’s under investigation.
Full Article & Source:
Nursing home employee accused of raping resident with dementia
Now his family will find out what scum he is.
ReplyDeleteWhen I see a story like this, I"m glad to see the culprit charged with the crime and at the same time, I wonder how many people, especially those who can't speak, are raped in nursing homes.
ReplyDelete